Premier League sides Chelsea and Arsenal are both interested in signing Philippe Coutinho from FC Barcelona during the summer transfer window.
Chelsea have a long-standing interest in the playmaker and at one point, everyone was sure that Lampard’s men would be securing this deal ahead of the other suitors. And this belief got even more robust when Bayern Munich recently admitted that they have not triggered the option to buy, in Coutinho’s loan agreement.
“The option expired and we haven’t activated it,” Rummenigge told Der Spiegel magazine on Friday, as reported by Football London.
“Now we’re going to draw up squad planning internally (for next season) and we’ll see if he still has a role to play with us or not.”
But over the past couple of weeks, Arsenal seem to have joined the race to sign Coutinho as well which is set to be a major hindrance for Chelsea and their transfer plans.
Do Chelsea hold an advantage in signing Philippe Coutinho?
Despite the entry of Arsenal in this transfer race, Le10Sport claims that it’s Chelsea who still read the race in signing the Brazilian.
The report claims: “According to our information, Arsenal has been thinking about Philippe Coutinho for several months now. And the first exchanges between the Gunners and the Brazilian’s agent would date back to the end of 2019!
“Mikel Arteta’s leaders are hard at work trying to make a difference. Attention however to Chelsea, also very hot on Coutinho.
“And the Blues seem to have more financial means to close a possible deal. For its part, Barcelona is a seller and even seems to be listening for a price far removed from the 145 million euros spent in winter 2018 to sign it.”
Chelsea did not sign a single player in the past two transfer windows which is why Frank Lampard is expected to be handed a massive transfer kitty this summer.
Arsenal, on the other hand, spent big amounts of money last year but they are unlikely to repeat this action since the Gunners are not expected to play in the Champions League next season.
This means if Chelsea can outbid their London rivals in this transfer battle then Philippe Coutinho should be heading to Stamford Bridge during the summer.
But Arsenal do have an ace up their sleeves as Mikel Arteta will be able to offer regular playing to the attacking midfielder next season, something which Lampard cannot guarantee, given he has played like Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount at his disposal.
